Eternally Yours
by Shirohane
Summary: A tale of a fool, prince, and princess. The fool loved the princess, who loved the prince. The prince, in return, loved the fool, but all of their loves were not meant to be. SasuNaru.


So you have gathered here to hear a tale. Very well, I shall tell you a story I have heard recently. It is really rather funny. I think you shall enjoy it.

Now, do you know what a fool is? There are also called jesters, clowns, pierrot, buffoon. Ah yes, I see that you recognize the name. In a distant land, far, far away from here and in an unknown region of time, there was a young boy who made his living by tricks of his quick hands and silly antics that made his crowd roar with laughter. He had been abandoned in his infancy; an orphan with not a blood attached to his in any way in the whole city. 

In this cold, unfriendly city the scrawny blond thing will walk about, his rags hanging loosely about his malnutritioned body. He was covered with dirt and grime from head to foot, but there was no dirt that could cover up his eyes. It was a brilliant shade of blue, the sort you would see when the weather is as pretty as can be, or when the ocean is as calm as can be on a very sunny day. Yes, indeed, it was a very beautiful shade of blue and some girls looked upon his eyes jealously, thinking that providence was indeed unfair in bestowing this gift on homeless, friendless beggar boy, rather than a rich, well-fed selfish girls like themselves.

Now the little boy's days were filled with pleasure, for he had made acquaintance of a little princess. She was a lovely thing, as beautiful as the stars. Her hair was a soft shade of cherry blossoms at their prime and her emerald-green eyes lighted up with mirth and joy. Her lips were tender and sweet, and oh, how lovely her voice was! She loved the fool and the fool loved her, and after working all morning to earn some pennies to fill his starving belly, he would go see her in the afternoon. 

The little hands nimbly juggled oranges, the slender body twisted and turned in the air, and the princess laughed and laughed. Her laughter rolled out like little bells of silver, and the fool gazed upon her loveliness and felt tender loving towards her. Ah, what days filled with happiness passed for these two! And with every passing day the fool grew more and more fond of her.

"Dear, dear Fool," the princess one day said. "I am so very happy!"

"What happened that made your heart fill with gladness?" The fool asked, smiling. He had just worked for hours to please her, and she had laughed and laughed as usual, smiling brighter than the stars. He was filled with contentment and happiness.

"I will get married to the prince that I love so much. Oh, Fool, he is so handsome! He will come riding a white horse, garbed all in black and silver, and he will ask for my hand. I have loved the prince ever since I was a little girl!"

The fool only gently smiled. He felt a pang in his heart, but what could he do? Alas, he was only a fool, and an orphan. The prince would surely make the little princess very happy, and they would live happily ever after. The fool was in pain, but he was also very happy for the princess.

And the dreaded day quickly came-- what trumpets! What noises! What cheering! The prince came with mountains of gift for the princess and her family. There were all kind of things rare and exotic and beautiful, and the prince danced with the princess, and the princess laughed and laughed. All day the festivities continued, and the fool worked very very hard, and he was able to earn a lot more than he usually did, for the people were feeling very generous. Should there be alliance between these two powerful country, what ease and comfort will the people of this city be able to enjoy! And the prince was stunningly handsome, as beautiful as the moon, and together the prince and the princess made such a lovely couple that all that saw those two blessed their heart.

In the evening, when the cool breeze blew, the fool went to see the princess as usual. The window where the princess always waited for him, her little white hands stretched out towards him lovingly, was tightly closed. The fool waited and waited and waited, and the night grew colder and colder and colder, but the princess did not appear. In the morning the fool went home and had breakfast, and tears salted his dry bread and fish.

The fool went again and again. Every afternoon the window was tightly closed. The castle was filled with laughter and joy, and the happiness overspilled and made everyone in the kingdom very generous and gentle. Yet the fool weeped even as he was well-fed, and he grew thin and haggard, for he missed the princess very much.

A week passed, and oh! The fool went to see the princess as usual, but instead he met the prince! The beautiful prince did not sneer at the dirty fool, nor did he laugh at him or order him to be chased out. When he spoke his voice was very gentle and sweet.

"Little one, who are you? Why do you come to this castle every night, and why do you cry so? My eyes sting with tears at the pain written across your dear little features!"

The fool was very surprised at the gentleness of the prince. And he instantly loved him, for he was the one who would make his princess happy. He haltingly told the prince that he was a fool—that he came every night to entertain his dear friend, the princess, but she was busy the last few days and he had cried because he had missed her so much.

"Then, little one," the prince gently said. "Think of me as your dear friend, and perform tricks for me, and I shall dress and feed and pay you."

"Sir, your kind words are more than enough," the fool lovingly said. His feet danced across the pavement, his thin arms moved quickly to perform the tricks, and the prince never laughed out loud, but he gently smiled throughout the whole performance. The fool felt he had never given a better performance.

When he was finished he was shivering, for his sweat chilled and he was poorly dressed. The prince took off his cape and wrapped it around the fool's shoulders.

"No, sir, it will get dirty," the fool protested.

"I have plenty of others."

Saying this, the prince put his arm around the fool as if they had been old friends, and took him inside the castle. The fool felt as if he had died and gone to heaven. The splendors and riches of royalty! And the prince ordered the fool to be given a warm, fragrant bath with rose petals, and when he came out there were hot food ready for him, and the prince dressed him in rich, elegant suit such as the one that a prince would wear.

And lo and behold! Properly washed and dressed, the fool was beautiful! His hair was the very color of summer sun, and his skin was sweet and satiny, and pink tinted his cheeks and lips. His beauty wasn't any less than that of the princess and the prince; he was as beautiful as the sun! And the prince wrapped his arms around him, and kissed his cheek, and told him that he is to be his own private jester.

Now you may think the prince was being cruel, asking the fool to stay right by his side and watch as his beloved princess was courted by this handsome prince. But the fool was really very happy, for now he loved both the princess and the prince, and he was eager for both of their happiness. And so he took the prince's outstretched hands, and lovingly kissed the royal fingers, and promised to stay by his side and be his friend for all his remaining days.

And then the prince asked, "What is your name, dear one?"

The fool was surprised. Who ever heard of a prince wanting to know the name of a fool? Fools were not important. They didn't deserve to have their name in stories. But because the prince insisted on knowing, we now know the name of the fool too-- "Uzumaki Naruto, sir."

"Naruto."

The prince sweetly smiled, as if the name sounded delicious to his ears.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, dear little one. And you shall call me Sasuke, and we shall enjoy each other's presence very much. Won't we, Naruto dear?"

At that gesture of kindness Naruto fell into the prince's arms, and cried tears of joy, and the prince lovingly held the fool in his arms.

And now happy days passed, for the prince spent as much time as he could with the fool! When he wasn't courting the princess and joining her for walks and dances and diplomatic meetings, he would spend time teaching the fool how to ride a horse, how to use a sword, how to read. All of this was fascinating to the fool, and he absorbed knowledge like a sponge. Ah, he was so very young, and so very quick to learn! It is a delight to teach a young boy like that. Indeed it is.

And now a curious thing happened. The prince started to be less and less interested in the princess. He spent shorter and shorter hours with her, and only courted her half-heartedly. His advisers were very anxious, for the prince always obeyed his parents and he never did anything out of his own will, yet the date in which his proposal to the princess was to be made was approaching and the prince didn't show any interest in the princess. And the princess cried, and threw tantrums and threw her beautiful trinkets all over her room and broke them, yet the prince was unmoved even when he heard such news.

One day the prince was reclining on a soft velvety sofa, the little fool perched on his lap and a book in his hand. With his free hand he patted the fool's satiny cheeks, and would sometimes gaze at him lovingly, and kiss his soft lips. The fool contently snuggled against the prince, and kissed him back, and in a little while was made very sleepy. The prince left his book and gathered the small boy in his arms and took him to his own bed, and carefully tucked him in. Then the fool threw his arms around the prince's shoulders—for the prince had spoilt the fool dreadfully, and let the fool do as he pleased—and kissed his cheek sleepily, and the prince's expression suddenly changed, and he no longer looked serene and gentle, and alas, he proceeded to defile the fool's virtue!

Now the fool had watched such going-ons many times when he was a tramp, and other tramps did not care if other people witnessed their baby-making process. Always he thought this was very vulgar, and gross, and he frowned upon it, but tonight it was so beautiful! The prince was so very gentle and loving, and he kissed him so many times, and he whispered such sweet things that made the fool blush very prettily, and in the end the fool let the prince have his way with him. So much for the fool.

And now the prince knew that he was hopelessly in love with his little fool. The fool accepted his love, shyly and with many tears of anguish shed for his beloved princess. The two were very happy and they made love many times, and the prince sweetly whispered love to the fool. The fool was anxious and worried, for he knew that a low being like himself was only a play-thing of the prince. But because he loved the prince so much, with many tears and anguished heart, the fool accepted his love and gave his own heart to the prince.

The prince announced that he was going to leave the country without being engaged to the princess. As you may imagine, this caused quite a stir and it was a scandalous, messy business. The princess was very much ashamed, and her pretty face became very ugly and cruel as she brandished her teeth and made rather nasty remarks to the prince. But the prince was so happy that he scarcely noticed her, and immediately started to pack to return home.

And about this time the princess finally noticed that the prince's jester was no one other than her own fool! Glad to meet a friend who would surely lend a sympathetic ear to her woes, she made inquiries and found his room. With a glad heart she went to see her poor friend she had completely forgotten about until now, but behold! 

The fool, made as beautiful as the sun, was in the company of the prince, and he was performing a very different kind of trickery indeed! The tricks made the prince very happy, but instead of laughing he heavily moaned and grunted, and soon they dirtied their naked, writhing bodies, and the prince freed his body from the jester's body and murmured sweet things to him, kissing his little fingers. And the princess saw the tender expression on the prince's face, and the adoring way they kissed, and her heart was filled with hatred.

One day the princess requested that the prince bring her a little yellow apple from the royal orchard as a parting gift. These apples did not grow very well and the trees died easily, but the fruit was fragrant and sweet and tangy, more so than any other apples in existence. The prince could not deny her of this gift, for he was the one who disappointed her. He promptly set out to retrieve the apples. He had nearly finished packing; by nightfall the fool and his servants would have finished packing whatever remained, and would be ready to go. His heart filled with gladness in the thought that he could finally go home with his little love, the prince hurried to the orchard, which took half a day to be reached.

As soon as the prince left, the princess quickly moved. Oh, how quickly she moved! She immediately sent her guards to the prince's chamber, where his little darling was peacefully sleeping between his covers. The fool was brought out to the royal judges, and the princess accused him of being a faggot. When the fool only cried and did not speak in defense of himself, only looking up at his beloved friend with his huge blue eyes full of tears and sadness, the guards roughly ripped his clothing apart. The tender boyish flesh was marked with rose petals, token of love left behind by the prince's loving teeth. His legs were still wet with the tryst the night before, and it was very obvious that the boy was not ignorant to pleasures that only woman should be acquainted with. He was immediately condemned with death.

It only took a little while before the pile of logs were ready to burn the faggot. The fool was tied up in a stake, and the woods were piled beneath his little foot. How little and fragile he looked! How wet his little round face was with tears! And what pathetic little hands outreached towards the cruel princess with ugly sneer on her pretty face, as he wept!

"Princess, Princess, my dear Princess," the fool sobbed. "I hope you shall be happy, and that your days will always be joyous."

"It will, once you are gone!" the princess hatefully spat. In her fury she took the can of oil herself and started to splash it all over the fool, quite viciously and looking very much like an animal. The fool continued to cry, but there was no hatred in his eyes, nor were there blames and curses upon his soft pink lips. Only dearest, sweetest blessings fell from his lips, and he looked like a little angel indeed, with his blond hair and blue eyes and sweet words. The crowd became quite uncomfortable, but the princess only laughed hysterically.

And then, oh, oh! The prince came! One of his servants had immediately gone after the prince when the fool was arrested and convicted, and he had returned! He was quite out of breath, and sweat was running down his face, and his pale white face looked very flushed. The fool smiled through his tears. He had no hope that the prince could save him—even a prince could not pardon a faggot discovered in another country's realm!—but he was so pleased to see his most beloved for the last time before he died.

And the prince stared at the pathetic little fool, all tied up and drenched with oil and ready to be burned, and he started to laugh. He laughed a cold, cold laugh, and the fool's face stiffened more and more. The princess's cruel laughter joined his, and she went up to him and put her arms around him, and looked up at the fool with a sneer.

Don't you find this funny, too? Imagine that fool, taken advantage of both by the princess and the prince! He had given his heart and mind and soul to the prince, and he knew it would come to this—that he was nothing but a plaything—but the prince managed to laugh at him before he died blissfully! Oh, what fun! How funny! And the fool cried quite heart-brokenly, and his heart wrenched with anguish, and he thought that he would die of broken heart before he was burned.

If you think that was funny, even funnier bit is to come. Listen, and I shall tell you.

The fire was lit—lit! The fire hungrily lapped at the dry logs and oil, and soon blazed big and hot, and the fool tightly closed his eyes. He would not give them the satisfaction of seeing him suffer, he won't! He will bless and love them to his very end of life.

And then he heard great shouts, and he opened his eyes, and warm, strong arms embraced him. What familiar arms! The prince had jumped into the fire with the fool! He wrapped his strong arms around his little love, and he kissed his cheek, and tears ran down both of their face. Without words they understood—that they could not survive in this era. Their love would never be accepted, and thus they would die together. The fool wept, but it was tears of happiness now, and he didn't urge the prince to go and save himself, for he knew that the prince would never leave him. The prince lovingly kissed his fool, and how beautiful the two of them looked! As they burned they had sweet, serene smile upon their lips, their body close together and their lips crushed together. It was as if two angels of fire had descended upon the earth.

The princess screamed, and everyone tried to save the prince as best as they could, but they could not get near the fire—it was blazing so brightly!—and by the time the fire was extinguished nothing but bones remained of the two lovers.

How funny! Both of them fools! The prince had died for a mere jester, a bedmate that he could easily have gotten hundreds of replacement, a tramp and orphan that no one wanted! What an idiot, perhaps even worse than the fool. The prince's parents, hearing this story, brought their son and their son's lover's bones to their own country and gave them a quiet burial.

You would think the princess would have lived happily ever after, since both of these fools were out of her life. But it was not so. Her pretty face was permanently marred by ugly sneer, and eventually all her teeth fell out, and her hair started to become bald in patches, and she grew very fat and warty and wrinkly, and no one wanted her. And the prince's parents declared a war on her country, and they lost horribly, and in the end she lived by eating foods that dogs and pigs wouldn't touch.

Isn't this the funniest story you have ever heard of? Why aren't you laughing? Well, move along; that's quite enough story for today, and you are no fun.

- END -


End file.
